• Part I
  The Overlap Between NDEs and Shamanism
  
• Part II
  Contemporary Western Shamanism and the Work of Michael Harner
• Part III
  Shamanic Extractions
  
  
• Part IV
  Shamanism
  and Applied Science

Contemporary
Western Shamanism
and the Work of Michael Harner

Harner agreed to undergo the initiation and the ceremony started late in the afternoon. As the drug began to take affect, Harner had a number of visions, one of which was of a large vessel with a dragon-head prow filled with figures which looked like ancient Egyptian depictions of birdmen. Harner wrote, "Although I believed myself to be an atheist, I was completely certain that I was dying and that the birdmen had come to take my soul away on the boat." Later in the experience he felt close to death:

"Now I was virtually certain I was about to die. As I tried to accept my fate, an even lower portion of my brain began to transmit more visions and information. I was 'told' that this new material was being presented to me because I was dying and therefore 'safe' to receive these revelations. These were secrets reserved for the dying and the dead, I was informed."

Again we find the overlap between the shamanic experience and the theme of death. Harner's experience is of an ego death, rather than a physical death, and similar to the experiences reported by Grof and Halifax [20] in their early work in psychedelic psychotherapy. Since his first initiation, Harner worked in other shamanic traditions and discovered that, although powerful psychedelic drugs are used in some cultures, many people can easily learn to journey without these substances. In fact, sustained drumming, rattling, singing, and dancing are used in most shamanic cultures to gain access to the shamanic realm. Harner has been very instrumental in making shamanic techniques widely available to Westerners, as well as in revitalizing the practice of shamanism in some tribal cultures. Through his workshops he has exposed thousands of westerners to these ancient techniques. He reports that over 90% of his students have some success with shamanic techniques even after brief exposure. Many people report their journey experiences to be very real in nature and easily distinguishable from fantasy or imagination. And although some people have more innate talent, Harner maintains that anyone can learn to enter into the shamanic realm with enough practice.

Harner teaches what he refers to as core shamanism, which is his own distillation of the basic techniques practiced by shamans throughout the world. He differentiates between what he refers to as Ordinary State Consciousness (OSC) and Shamanic State Consciousness (SSC). While OSC is the consensual reality that most of us share, the shaman is also able to enter into SSC which puts him or her in touch with the shamanic realm.

Soul Loss, Soul Retrieval

Sandra Ingerman is one of Harner's closest colleagues and an accomplished shaman in her own right. And Ingerman is not only a shaman, but also an NDEer. Below she discusses her own NDE and how it impacted the development of her shamanic skills:

"Many survivors of near-death experiences report going to a great blinding light that pulsates only love. In my own near-death experience in 1971, I too, was received by the light. For me, this light represented the Father and Mother God. I started thinking about God's being pure light. The Bible says that God created man in his own image. What that means to me, then, is that we are really balls of light. I started to experience myself as being light surrounded by matter, the body. We are a body; we have a mind; and we have this beautiful light that shines in us that is Spirit, which connects us to the divine." [26]

The author of Soul Retrieval [25] and Welcome Home [26], Ingerman discussed her work as a modern shaman helping those who suffer from soul loss. Modern soul loss is often the result of traumatic events such as incest, abuse, loss of a loved one, surgery, accident, illness, miscarriage, abortion, the stress of combat, addiction, verbal abuse, or divorce. Although the accepted treatment for most of these disorders is psychotherapy, Ingerman pointed out that from the shamanic perspective, psychotherapy cannot be effective if the aspect of personality we are addressing is not present.

In retrieving a soul, the shaman's task is to enter into non-ordinary reality and first locate the soul. Once the soul has been located, the shaman must then convince it to return to ordinary reality and reintegrate with the individual involved. Ingerman discussed the case of a man named David who came to her for a shamanic healing. He was in a very poor physical condition at the time, with Epstein-Barr virus as well as a number of other infections. He mentioned that just prior to becoming sick, his girlfriend, whose name was Suzanne, had committed suicide. This alerted Ingerman to the possibility that this might have been a case of not just soul loss, but soul stealing. The following is also an excellent example of psychopompic work, during which the shaman helps the deceased soul become better situated in the afterlife. Ingerman entered into the shamanic trance using sustained drumming and reported:

"I repeat my intention to focus myself. As I walk, I come to a tree where I see David tied by a rope around the trunk. He looks very forlorn and spiritually beaten. His head hangs down, and his soul shows no vitality. I don't like what I see, and I feel sensations of deep anger in my solar plexus. I yell out in non-ordinary reality for my power animal to come and help me. No sooner do I call than he appears. He is just in time! Suddenly a woman jumps out from behind the tree where she is hiding and lunges at me with her imposing nails aimed at my face. My power animal steps in front of me, creating a force field around us that she can't break through. She repeatedly lunges at the field in anger but keeps being thrown backward into the leaves. Finally, when she is exhausted, we carefully let the field down and walk close to her. She bursts into tears and begins sobbing. She is Suzanne."

Ingerman asked the woman whether she knew that she is dead, and she answered yes. Ingerman told Suzanne that she could help her move to a more comfortable place, but in order to do so, she will have to release David's soul. She refused. Ingerman then turned to her power animal for help and was told to keep the conversation going:

"David is dying back in ordinary reality, because you are keeping his soul captive."

"That's good," Suzanne replies. "I want him to die, so he can keep me company here. I want him to stay with me forever."

Although the shaman is able to intervene, she is not able to hurt or impose her will on others. Ingerman was now in the position of having to convince the woman to release the soul:

"I reach into my pocket and pull out a quartz crystal and hand it to her. She loves the sparkling light, which starts to whirl around and through her. She obviously is soaking it up." 'I can take you to a place where the light shines all the time and will take care of you.'

"She asks, 'How do I get there?'

"'Give me back David's soul, and I'll take you there.' Suzanne looks at the crystal and then at David and then at me. Seconds go by that seem like hours, and finally she agrees to release David. I untie David from the tree. He slides to the ground, lying still; his breathing is shallow. I leave him there in the care of my power animal. I put my arm around Suzanne's and we float upward. We continue to move up and out of this place and travel through space, surrounded by planets and stars. Suddenly we come to a skin membrane, which we break through. Our pace quickens as we continue to rise, going through layer upon layer of clouds. In the distance there is a blinding light. I know I can go no further. 'Suzanne, go to the light.' At this point I push her up, watching her disappear into the all-encompassing golden rays."

After returning with the soul parts, the shaman will then blow them back into the client's body and seal the parts in by rattling around the person. When Ingerman did so with David, he reported feeling an immediate rush, his eyes brightened, and his physical condition gradually improved. Ingerman reported that he continues to enjoy good health to this day.

The article entitled "Near Death Experiences (NDEs), Shamanism and the Scientific Method," first appeared in the Journal for Near-Death Studies and is reprinted here with the author's permission.